Eric and Denise Romanak are bringing Paducah its first marathon — and hoping it becomes a hometown tradition
Twenty-five hundred years ago, a runner named Pheidippides is said to have carried news of victory from the plains of Marathon to Athens before collapsing. Perhaps it’s only a legend. But every time someone runs 26.2 miles, we tell it again. The marathon has never been only about the distance. It’s about what a person pours into a single morning after months of a slow burn.
This October, Paducah gets its own chapter in that old story. The American Bluegrass Classic will be the city’s first marathon: a flat, Boston-qualifying course looping through Lower Town, Fountain Avenue, and Midtown, paired with the beloved Oktoberfest weekend. It’s an ambitious undertaking. But talk to Eric and Denise Romanak, the directors behind the race, and what rises to the top is actually a love story — their own, and a story about their love of running itself.
Twenty-two years ago, Eric and Denise Romanak, with their young son Mason, were headed for Clarksville when they stopped near Denise’s parents in Paducah. Denise was nine months pregnant with their second child at the time, and the stop became more permanent than they expected. Maya was born here; what was supposed to be a brief stay became a new life. As the story is told now, the baby chose Paducah.
“Denise was training for the Boston Marathon, and I was bartending and playing guitar,” Eric says of the early days of their marriage. “I didn’t even understand what she was doing. Like, you’re going out and running 10 miles on a Saturday morning. Why?”
Denise had been a runner her whole life. Eric had not. It took the birth of their first child for Eric to try it himself. He remembers running his first mile without stopping at 28 years old. “I started running between mailboxes,” he says. “One, then I’d walk to the next. Then it was two mailboxes. Then three.”
That patience became a philosophy, then evolved into a business. Eric has spent two decades in fitness. Martial arts first, then strength and mobility work, thirteen of those years running Seva Fitness. The name, from the ancient Sanskrit word for selfless service, reflects the Romanaks’ belief that caring for one’s own health is ultimately an act of service to family and community. “The premise was always: you can’t help the world if you’re sick and broken,” Eric says. “It’s a wise selfishness.”
Eric coaches with that same unhurried steadiness, working mostly with clients his age and older — people looking to build and maintain real strength through middle age and beyond. He operates from a small studio tucked into Lowertown, where one-to-one training lets him tailor each client’s progress. “The engine always gets in shape before the chassis does,” he says, explaining that the cardiovascular system adapts more quickly than muscles and tendons. In his view, running rewards patience and attention. For anyone convinced they’re “not a runner,” he offers a piece of advice that reflects his entire philosophy: “Grow slower than you think you need to.” It’s an idea that colors his whole approach to fitness. “Despite its simplicity, running is a very sophisticated sport,” he says. “I always equate it to bourbon. Three ingredients, but the complexity is deep.”
Denise is the first to downplay her role in the business. She handles the bookkeeping, sponsor calls, and countless race-day details, considering herself Eric’s “sounding board.” Eric quickly corrects the record. “She’s being modest and humble. In the morning chaos of the race, she knows everything that needs to be done.” While he’s moving from volunteer to volunteer, Denise quietly keeps the entire operation on track. She was the runner first. Long before Eric hit the trail, Denise was training for marathons. Eventually, she introduced him to the sport that would become a major part of his life’s work.
That same patience is also exactly what makes them good race directors. Understanding both the run and the wait at the finish line gives the Romanaks a kind of dual fluency that shapes how they approach race directing. Both have spent countless hours as spectators and know what a familiar face along the course can do for a runner’s spirit. The American Bluegrass Classic’s looped course gives runners multiple chances to see the faces of friends and family who came to cheer them on.
What keeps Eric coming back is the culmination of it all. “What people are seeing is weeks and months of somebody’s work, coming to a head on a day they have no control over,” he says. Runners finish exhausted, euphoric even. Their brains, as Eric puts it, “are completely flushed with these amazing chemicals sending the message: ‘I did this.'”
He and Denise have even bigger hopes for the American Bluegrass Classic in Paducah, beyond its role as a race built for Boston qualifiers and 50-state runners chasing a flat Kentucky course. They imagine a city rallying together, families cheering from their front steps, the community pouring out to watch the event and celebrate the hard work of friends and strangers alike. “Play music in your front yard,” Eric says, describing the Paducah he’s picturing a few years from now. “Put your tents out. Have your concessions ready.” It will be something the city can look forward to and take pride in. After all, they’ve spent the last twenty years proving that the things worth building rarely happen all at once. They happen one patient step at a time.
The American Bluegrass Classic
Saturday, October 17, 2026
Paducah’s inaugural marathon offers something for runners of every experience level, with a full marathon, half marathon, and four-person relay. All races begin and end in Historic Downtown Paducah during Oktoberfest weekend, giving runners and spectators plenty to enjoy before and after the event.
Race Options
- Marathon (26.2 miles): Four-loop course
- Half Marathon (13.1 miles): Two-loop course
- Four-Person Marathon Relay: One loop per runner (approximately 10K each)
Course Highlights
- Flat, fast course designed for personal-best times
- Boston Marathon qualifying course
- Multi-loop design gives spectators multiple opportunities to cheer on runners
- Travels through Historic Downtown, Lower Town, Fountain Avenue and Midtown
Learn More
Registration and complete race information are available at americanbluegrassclassic.com.
